Sitting US presidents enjoy immunity, but prosecutions could resume at the end of the billionaire’s term.
Published on 25/11/2024 23:15
Updated on 25/11/2024 23:22
Reading time: 1min
The federal judge responsible for case against Donald Trump for illegal attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 electionannounced the dropping of charges on Monday November 25 against the winner of the American presidential election. The decision follows the recommendations, a few hours earlier, of the prosecutor in charge of the investigation Jack Smith. Donald Trump’s campaign team immediately welcomed a “major victory for the rule of law”.
Judge Tanya Chutkan approved this recommendation, which conforms to a policy adopted more than 50 years ago by the Department of Justice of not prosecuting a sitting president and applied to this situation “unprecedented”. But the magistrate left the door open to new prosecutions once the billionaire’s four-year term ended. “The immunity granted to a sitting president is temporary and expires upon termination of office”she wrote, reports CNN.
The ex-president and now president-elect was accused of trying to stay in power despite his defeat in 2020, and was notably charged with “plot against American institutions” and“attack on the right to vote” voters.
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